Captive - Cheryl Brooks Page 0,109

doing an awful lot of talking for a pair who were also in the process of mating.

Scratch that. We’re already mated.

Making love, then.

Yeah. That’s it.

He considered making it a quick one so they could join the party, but, like unbuttoning her dress, this was something he felt he should take his time with. After all, it wasn’t every day a guy got thrown in the dungeon and still wound up getting the girl. He hadn’t stopped moving throughout their entire conversation, and he saw no need to stop now.

Rocking with a gentle beat, he could almost feel the rhythm of her heart, and the way her eyes squeezed shut with each orgasm filled him with delight. He reveled in the warmth of her body everywhere they touched, each stroke lifting them higher as her love drowned him in desire. While that desire would be quenched in time, right now, he was on a level he wanted to maintain for as long as possible. The peak would undoubtedly satisfy them both, and the ensuing laetralance would soothe their souls.

Ah, but the rise to that peak was ecstasy itself.

It happened all too soon, of course, as such things inevitably did. His eyes snapped shut as his snard finally left his body, and he thanked the gods for the delay in her reaction, which gave him a few precious moments to recover enough to gaze at her exquisitely beautiful face. Her eyes opened wide as her pupils dilated completely, leaving only a luminous blue rim surrounding the soft golden glow from within. In that instant, he knew he would never see anything he could possibly love more.

He was at peace now. With Klara held safely in his arms, the world could go on turning without their notice. The revolution could continue to liberate the oppressed without their help. They had played their part. This time was theirs and theirs alone.

A time to know joy.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before the computer chimed with an incoming message, interrupting their peaceful afterglow.

“Must be one hell of a party going on in town. No one else is answering their comlinks,” Val reported. “So I’m calling you. I found the accounts exactly where I expected them to be.” He paused to inhale a long, ragged breath. “And it’s a shit-ton of money.”

Moe gave Klara a quick hug before sitting up in bed. “Kinda figured it would be, given that he’s essentially had three lifetimes to wring the wealth out of this planet. Probably didn’t do it alone, though.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Like I said, it’s a staggering amount. He must’ve had a stake in every region of Haedus Nine, exhausting the wealth in one area before moving on to the next.”

Moe glanced at Klara, noting her expression of dismay. “Can you withdraw it?” Finding the money was no help if it couldn’t be accessed.

“Yes. I have already set up one new account and transferred some of the money into it, although given the access I have, there may be no need to move all of it, unless we want to transfer everything into accounts on this world.”

Moe threw back the covers and stood. “Guess we’d better go find Velkma and Yirland and see what they want to do. They’ve been talking like they want to go on living here. I can see why they would want to stay on their homeworld, but this place is really the pits. I’m a little surprised Pelarus is still hanging around. If I had that much money, I’d buy myself a nice tropical island and sip piña coladas on the beach for the rest of my life.”

“The rest of several lives,” Val amended. “Money wasn’t the only thing I found. According to his files, he has two more clones lined up.

“Mother of the gods,” Moe whispered. “Can a crook get any more diabolical than that?”

“I don’t see how,” Val replied. “He could have lived on his wealth for centuries.” He cleared his throat. “Now for the bad news. There isn’t any record of where those two clones are located. I’m assuming Orpheseus Prime, but with Ilya Zolo in jail, someone else must be looking after them. One of them is in his late teens and the other is just a kid.”

Klara shook off her laetralant stupor and dragged herself out of bed. “No doubt Pelarus knows exactly where they are. He probably has plans to start all over again on another world now that he’s sucked everything out of